The present invention relates to a device used to facilitate coupling a gooseneck trailer with a tow vehicle. More particularly, this invention relates to an offset coupler for use in connecting a gooseneck trailer with a gooseneck hitch ball to permit the relative spacing between the tow vehicle and the gooseneck trailer to be increased.
By virtue of their design and their ability to better distribute the weight of the towed trailer, gooseneck trailers have become quite popular and have been found to have numerous advantages over bumper pulled trailers. In a typical arrangement, the front of a gooseneck trailer projects forward from the main body of the trailer a set distance and then a downwardly projecting trailer coupler tube is provided, the appearance of this arrangement thus providing the inspiration for the gooseneck name. The lower end of the trailer coupler tube is designed to be coupled with a gooseneck hitch of the tow vehicle. The gooseneck hitch generally consists of a gooseneck hitch ball which projects upwardly from a central location of the tow vehicle, generally the floor of the bed of a truck. The gooseneck hitch ball is generally oriented in the bed of the tow vehicle slightly ahead of the rear axle, thereby giving the gooseneck trailer arrangement its advantage over bumper pull trailers by transferring the weight of the trailer more evenly between the front and rear axles of the tow vehicle.
A drawback of the gooseneck trailer hitch arrangement, having a hitch ball stick up in the middle of a truck bed, has been overcome in recent years by the advent of convertible type gooseneck hitch balls. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,000 to Popup Industries. Newer convertible type gooseneck hitch balls must be mounted even further ahead of the rear axle in order to achieve adequate clearance between the differential of the tow vehicle and the underhang of the convertible gooseneck hitch system. As a result, the geometry of gooseneck trailer weight distribution in the tow vehicle and the special requirements of convertible hitch balls cooperate to dictate the location of the gooseneck hitch ball in the bed of the tow vehicle.
In recent years, a trend has emerged in the design of trucks to increase the interior cab space for user comfort. First introduced were stretch cab trucks, followed by extended cab trucks and, even more recently, crew cab four-door trucks. While the cabs of these trucks have in essence been lengthened, the wheel base or footprint of these pickup trucks have remained largely unchanged. As a result, the beds of these trucks are respectively shortened. This arrangement permits a truck manufacturer to provide a truck with more interior space, while not sacrificing mobility and maneuverability for the trucks. It also prevents the manufacturers from having to produce longer and longer trucks which might not be as appealing to purchasers.
The presence of these new short bed trucks have created a problem with respect to gooseneck trailers. The problem is a decrease in the clearance between the nose of a trailer and the rear of the cab of the tow vehicle when the gooseneck trailer is coupled with the tow vehicle. Because the bed is shortened, the distance between the hitch ball and the back of the cab in a short bed truck is shorter than what it would normally be in a truck with a standard length bed. Because the front of the trailer is now closer to the rear of the cab, the driver of the short bed tow vehicle cannot make as sharp of turns as the driver of a long bed vehicle, as discussed in greater detail below.
Another problem associated with gooseneck trailers in general can be the clearance between the rear of the truck and the bulkhead of the trailer. Spare tires, propane tanks or other items are often stored mounted to the outside of the bulkhead of a gooseneck trailer. As a result, the distance between the front of the trailer and the back of the truck is effectively shortened. Generally, when coupling a gooseneck trailer to a pickup truck, the tailgate of the truck is lowered so that the truck may be backed up towards the trailer until the gooseneck is positioned over the hitch ball in the bed of the tow vehicle. It is often the case that the tailgate would make contact with the item stored on the front of the bulkhead of the trailers before the coupler would be aligned over the hitch ball for coupling. As a result, it is often necessary to back the truck partially under the trailer and then raise the tailgate before being permitted to back further under the trailer for coupling.
Therefore, this is a need for a device which permits the user to couple a gooseneck trailer with a tow vehicle in an arrangement that permits the gooseneck trailer to be moved further back away from the tow vehicle than permitted by present coupler devices. The present invention fills these and other needs.